Details emerge for multistory building coming to downtown Eugene’s ‘North Butterfly’ lot

Downtown Eugene residents Wednesday, March 26, heard a preview of plans for the mixed-use development coming to the lot north of the Lane County Farmers Market Pavilion.

Paradigm Properties President Dan Neal shared a few details about the North Butterfly Lot Redevelopment, which will occupy the gravel lot on the southwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Oak Street, at a neighborhood meeting at the downtown Eugene Public Library. 

The 0.67-acre, 30,000-square foot development will bring more housing downtown and aims to increase the area’s connectivity with the nearby Market and Riverfront districts. The city in October picked Paradigm, the Eugene-based firm behind The Patterson and The Midtown, to develop the project. 

The mixed-use building will be L-shaped and between eight and 12 stories tall, no taller than The Graduate hotel, Neal said. He described plans for the building’s exterior design as contemporary with elements of classic “oldness” to match it with existing buildings downtown, incorporating “a lot of glass” and high-quality siding. 

Neal said the building will offer between 80 and 100 units of housing, split between studios, 1-bedrooms and 2-bedrooms, and “nearly” all of them will have a balcony. 

Paradigm’s initial plan for the ground floor included a public promenade with storefronts on the south side and smaller shops, galleries or offices on the north side. 

Neal said the plaza portion of the space will be multipurpose, intended for events like musical and dance performances. He added that the ground floor will include an office to permanently house farmers market operations, as well as space for market vendors to sell goods throughout the week.  

“We want to think of things that will attract people to the building who don’t live in the building, and things that are viewed as positives by people who do live in the building,” he said. 

The city’s development programs manager, Amanda D’Souza, said Eugene wants to avoid “empty storefronts” on the ground floor so it won’t mandate the developer include retail until Paradigm determines the feasibility of business in the space. She mentioned that the ground-floor spaces will have tall ceilings and large windows.

Paradigm also wants to build some underground parking, though it wasn’t initially budgeted for the project, Neal said, adding that each floor will include a bicycle storage area near the elevator.

He said the total project cost is now in the range of $60 million. The firm previously estimated the cost at $30 million, though it described the figure as a “placeholder” and said the project could still be feasible with 30-50% more funding, at most $45 million.

Paradigm will approach the Eugene City Council to ask for more urban renewal dollars to “fill in the gap” in the budget, Neal said.

“We don’t know what that [gap] is just yet, but there will be an ask, so we’ll see where that goes,” D’Souza said. 

The development will likely qualify for the city’s Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption, a 10-year abatement of property taxes associated with new housing, and its Downtown Fee Assistance Program, which uses urban renewal funds to pay for new downtown housing development fees — two tools that Paradigm will use to bring down the cost of the project.

“Some degree of public support is necessary in order for this to become a reality,” he said. 

The building will likely offer only apartments for rent, not condominiums for purchase, which are more expensive and “riskier” than market rate housing, Neal said, adding that Paradigm hopes to offer rent prices below those at The Gordon Lofts, The Portal or The Heartwood.

The north butterfly lot has worn a few different hats over the years. A two-tiered parking lot once occupied the space, which was scouted to be the new location for Eugene’s city hall before the plan collapsed, and the city moved into the former Eugene Water & Electric Board headquarters.

The southern half of the lot was redeveloped in 2021 to become the farmers market pavilion, leaving the north portion a gravel lot. The city’s Urban Renewal Agency bought the lot in April 2025. 

The city will release a public survey for feedback on the Paradigm development proposal in May, and the Eugene City Council, acting in its capacity as the urban renewal district board, will consider the proposal sometime in June, D’Souza said. 

Neal said the project could break ground in about a year and a half, and construction would take another 20 to 22 months after that, meaning the project could be completed sometime in 2029. 

“I’m really very humbled and honored that the city chose Paradigm Properties, a small local company that I founded about 20 years ago, to work with the city on this project,” Neal said.

Neighbors at Wednesday’s meeting largely supported the project, asking Neal questions about the building’s exterior design, parking and bicycle infrastructure. 

Noah Birnel, co-chair of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, joked that downtown residents have more “universal enthusiasm” about a tall building being built in their neighborhood than most other neighborhoods in Eugene. 

A new market-rate project hasn’t been built in the downtown core for at least 25 years, maybe even closer to half a century, Neal said.

Birnel urged Paradigm and the city to improve the street design of Sixth and Seventh avenues — two high-traffic, four-lane corridors north of the building — to make them quieter and more pedestrian-friendly, given that when construction is complete, residents will overlook the arterials from their balconies. 

“I want that as bad as anybody,” Neal responded. “The building will be more successful if you don’t have that highway feeling.”

D’Souza said the city transportation staff have for years considered removing a lane of traffic from both Sixth and Seventh avenues, though she didn’t know the current status of the proposal. 

She added that her team is working to improve the “sidewalk experience” on Oak and Pearl streets between Sixth and Seventh avenues.